Three of the Products I Liked at Greenbuild Today

Posted live from Greenbuild.

Vortex Fine Filters by Wisy, offered in the U.S. by Rainwater Management Solutions, passively filter debris in rainwater collected from drains and downspouts. An offset input on the top of the unit spins draining water around a self-cleaning stainless steel mesh filter; 90-something percent of the water is filtered and exits to holding tanks or more processing. (The rest goes somewhere else.) A first-flush occurs by design at each rainfall. (Until they pointed it out to me at this booth, I hadn't realized that the convention center we're in was the first in the U.S. to use siphonic drainage — another thing I like.)

Big Belly Solar compacting public trash cans and recycling kiosks. I saw these things last year, maybe even the year before, and they're still a favorite. The real savings they can offer aren't immediately apparent under the glare of novelty. They increase capacity by five times over ordinary receptacles of the same size; and they signal wirelessly for pick-up when full, further reducing — by lots — the emissions generated and energy expended for pickups. The standard black side panels and hopper cover are made from 80-100% post-consumer recycled ABS. The exterior is 85% recycled galvanized steel (which is about normal for steel anyway).

Tournesol VGM modular green wall planting system. No PVC! Their grid is 100% recycled polypro, with a steel mounting system. The soil depth... er, thickness... is a choice of either 4.5 or 8.5 inches — unusually generous for living wall systems, and great for the plants. This is a brand-new product that they rolled out at this show; it's not even on their website yet.